For a list of all 71 communities, visit the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs website.

“By becoming a part of the Commonwealth’s new Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, these 71 cities and towns are committed to taking on the challenge of climate change at the local level,” said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. “Through this partnership our communities will build resilience and prepare for the impacts of climate change while helping our administration design better adaptation solutions across the Commonwealth.”

As part of the MVP Program, municipalities will work through a community-based workshop process to identify key climate-related hazards, vulnerabilities and strengths, develop adaptation actions, and prioritize next steps. Results of the workshops and planning efforts will be used to inform existing local plans, grant applications, budgets, and policies. One area of focus will be using the process to update or develop local hazard mitigation plans.

Cities and towns will work through a community-based workshop process to identify key climate-related hazards, vulnerabilities and strengths, develop adaptation actions, and prioritize next steps. Results of the workshops and planning efforts will be used to inform existing local plans, grant applications, budgets, and policies. One area of focus will be using the process to update or develop local hazard mitigation plans.

The program, funded through the Five-Year Capital Plan, will be led by an experienced project coordinator from the town with a core team of town staff and volunteers representing town planning departments, emergency managers, conservation commissioners, economic councils, the business community and others. Technical assistance will be delivered by state-certified MVP Program providers using a standardized toolkit for assessing vulnerability and developing strategies, and newly developed climate projections and data from the Northeast Climate Science Center at UMass-Amherst. Upon successful completion of the program, municipalities will be designated as a “Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program Community.”

The communities of Boston, Cambridge, Salem, Somerville and Swampscott have achieved MVP Program designation based on work they have already completed within their communities.

“Now more than ever, we must work on local, state and regional levels to make our communities more resilient to the harmful effects of climate change,” said Sen. President Pro Tempore Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, founding chair of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change.

“I am very pleased that Wareham and Carver will be receiving MVP grants. This program emphasizes the importance of local control in the matter of climate change,” said state Rep. Susan Williams Gifford, R-Wareham.

This round of funding ends in June 2018 and additional opportunities for communities to apply will be announced in early 2018.